British Columbia: Galloway to Skoomkumchuck

Well - the day started in the rain, and ended in the rain...

It was about 10 last night when I put my book away and went to sleep. I woke up at midnight to the sound of a downpour. The road noise was pretty much gone by then. I woke up every hour and a half or so all night long - still raining. I had intended to get up at 6, but just couldn't face packing up in the rain. Finally the rain slowed almost to a stop, but it was almost 8am. I packed up - no cooking this morning, figured I could get by on a couple of Nutrigrain bars, which I later supplemented with a Pop Tart (what's happening to my good nutrition?)! I spoke with the campground owner for a bit when I returned the restroom keys. She offered me the use of one of her cabins - free! - if I wanted to stay here today instead of riding in the rain. She said that all of the cabins were booked for the rest of the weekend, but that one woman took a cabin only for last night. Her cleaner doesn't come until Monday, but she suggested that I use the other (unused) twin bed. She also told me that she almost came out last night when she saw it was starting to rain to tell me to move into one of the empty cabins. I thanked her, but told her I thought I should move on, even if I only make it another 30 miles. It's nice to know that there are kind people in the world.

I stopped at a store in Jaffrey just a couple of miles down the road to get some hot chocolate - and a Pop Tart. I think I'm regressing in my eating habits - but anything for calories! I met a couple from Ontario there. They were biking from Vancouver back to Ontario. They said that they have to be home by August 22nd. It sounds to me like they have a huge amount of ground to cover in just 3 weeks. I don't know which side of the province they are headed for. But it sounds like they're planning on putting in some long mileage days on the prairie, and hoping for a tailwind.

I followed the Adventure Cycling directions and took Wardner-Fort Steele road instead of the highway. It was nice to be away from traffic for a while, but it was a bit isolated. At one point I thought that some cows were about to chase me... I stopped to take their picture, and they started bellowing. Maybe they just don't like cameras, but since the cows and I were on the same side of the fence (open range country) and since they were considerably larger than I am, I quickly moved on.

The rain stopped about when I turned onto Wardner-Fort Steele road, but it still continued drizzling every now and then. I rode with the camera in my panniers and my rainjacket tied around my waist in case the weather deteriorated quickly. I picked up a sandwich at the Fort Steele campground store, then turned onto 93/95 again. The road surface wasn't great, but it was much better than the very bumpy shoulder, so I stayed on the road whenever possible and pulled onto the shoulder only when I heard traffic coming. I didn't realize how tired the road surface was making me until I got to the intersection with 95A. As I turned to stay on 93/95, both the road and the shoulder surfaces became perfectly smooth again. What a difference!

I stopped at a local farm stand to pick up some fresh local cherries - and spent about 15 minutes talking with the farmer. I'm still finding that people are very interested in talking with me about my trip. I got the same reaction from people when I pulled off at a rest stop.

The sun came out when I was eating lunch in Fort Steele and pretty much stayed out for the rest of the day.

I pulled into Springbrook Resort Motel & Campground in Skookumchuck and was pretty much befriended by the owners when they saw I was traveling alone. The campground was totally full, but they showed me a couple of spots I could have in the regular campground - then suggested that I set up camp in their yard or in a small clearing down the hill from their yard next to the river - which is where I ended up. They told me that there was another biker here, so I found him to say hello before I set up camp. Took all of about 10 minutes for my completely wet tent to dry - that's how strong the sun was! (By the way, it didn't leak - the wet was from rolling it up with a soaking rain fly.) I set up the tent, showered, and rinsed out today's cycling clothes, thinking they would dry in the sun. I was working on cleaning & re-lubing the bike when Pat (the other cyclist) came by to see if I was interested in joining him for dinner in the restaurant across the street. Of course I was! The town seemed to consist of the motel/campground, with a gas station, store, restaurant combination across the street. Definitely convenient.

Wouldn't you know it started to pour again right after we walked into the restaurant. I guess it's a good thing that Pat stopped by - if he hadn't I would have been cooking dinner when the rain hit. It was nice to have someone else cook, and to have company for dinner. Pat is from Tuscon. He started riding in Spokane with 3 other people, but ended up on his own. The other 3 were moving much too slowly - he said at about an 8mph average speed. He had originally planned to get to Glacier & Waterton, but those had dropped out due to time constraints when he was with the group. After our conversation, it sounds like he is going to try to get to both parks. I was able to give him some information on the route since I just came from there.

I got back to the campsite and wrung out my wash since it was now wetter than when I went to dinner. Marti - one of the campground owners - came down to see how I was doing, and offered me the use of her clothes dryer. Of course I took her up on it. She went back to the office, leaving me at her house with her father and another family friend. We had a good conversation - and I once again had dry clothes. They were about to barbecue hamburgers and offered me food too, but I declined since I'd already had a pretty big dinner. The people I've met on this trip have been incredible. I'd like to be able to take this "people interaction" (particularly with strangers) home with me - but I'm not sure that it translates well to the northeast!

All in all it was a great day. I'm just hoping that the rain does it's thing tonight and goes away in the morning. Although I have had pretty good luck with the rain so far. My biggest weather problem on this trip has been the heat, not the rain.

It turns out that this is a 3-day weekend. Monday is a provincial holiday, so the campgrounds and hotels are absolutely packed. Yet there wasn't any question about the availability of a tent site here...